GROßE KRUEZER

What Might Have Been - SMS Ersatz Yorck, Ersatz Gneisenau, and Ersatz Scharnhorst

Based on the Mackensen but designed to use the same 380mm/45 (15") turrets as the Bayern class,
these ships would have been formitable opponents. Fast and heavily armed/armoured, the Yorck's were faster than the British Queen Elizabeth
class. But construction began late in the war and proceeded slowly - none of the ships got much beyond the keel-laying stage before being broken up on
the stocks after the war.

PHOTOS

Line Drawing - Side View (Gröner)
Line Drawing - Top and Side Views (Gröner)